1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an apparatus for supporting and immobilizing a patient's hand and wrist during surgery, and, more particularly, relates to a reusable surgical hand support apparatus to be used in conjunction with surgical procedures involving the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome.
2. Background of Related Art
Surgical procedures involving a person's hand require the hand to be fully supported and immobilized during the surgical procedure and, preferably, retained in a prostrate manner permitting full access for the introduction of surgical instrumentation within the targeted area. This is particularly significant in procedures involving the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome, where access to the carpal tunnel ligament must be unimpeded to permit insertion of surgical instrumentation within the carpal tunnel defined by the ligament.
Surgical hand support devices are well known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,140,998 to Vickers describes a surgical hand restrainer including a plate for supporting the hand, a clamping member for restraining the fingers and a restraining device for retaining the thumb on the support plate. The clamping member is biased to a closed position by a spring. Other restraint devices for supporting a patient's hand are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,982,744 (an immobilizing apparatus including a composite sheet having an adhesive surface and an arm board) and 4,941,480 (splint for immobilizing a patients arm). U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,025,801, 4,909,264, 3,762,401 and 2,266,230 teach various other devices for temporarily restraining or supporting the hand and/or lower forearm area of the patient.
Certain disadvantages with known surgical hand restraint devices such as those taught in the aforementioned patents are apparent. One disadvantage concerns the relative complexity of the devices, which, consequently, limits accessibility to the patient's hand and increases the difficulty of sterilizing the device after each use. Sterilization of surgical instrumentation has become of extreme significance in recent years due to the increased presence of transmittable diseases such as AIDS, hepatitis, etc. . . The particular structures of known hand support devices do not lend themselves well to sterilization due to the complex arrangement of their component parts which are often inaccessible to sterilization fluids or gases. Consequently, these devices must be either disposed after each use or disassembled and then sterilized. However, due to their structural complexity, disassembly and consequent reassembly of known devices is a tedious and time consuming task. Additionally, certain components of the device may not be adequately sterilized due to their inaccessibility.
U.S. Pat. application Ser. Nos. 945,383 filed Sept. 16, 1992 now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 5,372,145 and Ser. No. 08/101,708 filed Aug. 4, 1993 to Berger teach a surgical hand support apparatus particularly contemplated to be used in the treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. The Berger apparatus includes a base block, a finger support bar which is adjustable toward and away from the base block, a thumb lock assembly having a thumb containment hook and a wrist holding assembly for engaging the patient's wrist. Although the Berger apparatus is well suited for its intended purpose, the present disclosure is directed to further advancements to more effectively assist the surgeon in surgery of the hand, particularly, surgery involving the carpal tunnel ligament. The apparatus of the present disclosure is relatively simple in construction. Further, the present apparatus can be readily disassembled such that each component part may be thoroughly sterilized and subsequently reassembled with relative ease for subsequent use.